Kirk Herbstreit is one of college football busiest commentators, serving as an analyst on ESPN's “College GameDay” along with working ABC's Saturday night game with Brent Musburger. He also has a busy family life in Nashville, Tenn., with four sons, ranging from kindergarten to fifth grade who all play football.

Herbstreit, 43, a former Ohio State quarterback, will make his season debut calling the Cowboys Classic matching Alabama and Michigan at 7 p.m. Saturday from Arlington, Texas, and “College GameDay” will be at the site. In a recent phone interview, he discussed changes in the Big 12, and OU's and OSU's prospects for the season.

Will the Big 12 be better with the addition of West Virginia and TCU this season?

It's amazing to think a year or two ago there was talk of the Big 12 even dissolving. Now they have lost four teams in the last couple of years and brought in two teams in TCU and West Virginia. You start to look not only at Oklahoma and Texas, who I think will be better, but Oklahoma State and even Kansas State with the improvement that they've had with Bill Snyder. Then you add West Virginia and TCU, that gives you six teams right there and that's not even including Texas Tech or Baylor. Now that the dust has settled, I think there might end up being more depth in this conference than what we've seen in the past.

Who are you picking to win the conference?

I like Oklahoma. I have my concerns about them, but overall they are the team to beat on paper. There is some enough experience in some key areas. I think of all the players in the Big 12, the player I'm most intrigued to watch is Landry Jones. He is a veteran guy who has had a lot of peaks and valleys in his career. I'm sure last year did not end the way he would have liked the way he played down the stretch. That can affect your confidence a bit. He threw 15 interceptions last year, and he doesn't have his guy Ryan Broyles back. I just want to see how he plays and if they can get him back in rhythm.

Will Mike Stoops have much of an impact on the defense?

Huge impact. I'm a big fan of Bob (Stoops) and Brent (Venables). I think his experience in Tucson probably brings him back full of energy. I'm sure he is anxious to work with top shelf talent like he'll be working with at Oklahoma. Just to be candid, Oklahoma in the last four or five years at times has played as well as any defense in the country and there have been other times where they've had letdowns. I got to believe part of what Mike and Bob and the whole defensive staff is trying to do is try to build a little bit more continuity and consistency within their defensive play.

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Mel Bracht is a copy editor on the presentation desk and also covers sports media. A 1978 graduate of Indiana University, Bracht has been a print journalist for 34 years. He started his career as sports editor of the Rensselaer (Ind.) Republican...

Several sportscasters have new assignments as the season is set to begin. Erin Andrews has jumped from ESPN to Fox to host a new prime-time college football pregame show with Eddie George and Joey Harrington from Los Angeles. It debuts at 6 p.m. Saturday before Fox's Hawaii-USC telecast.

At ESPN, Samantha Steele has left the Longhorn Network to replace Andrews on the first hour of ESPN's “College GameDay” and Heather Cox will replace her as sideline reporter on the Saturday night package.

ESPN's Thursday and Friday night games will also have familiar faces in new roles. David Pollack and Steele will join returning announcer Rece Davis and analyst Jesse Palmer on Thursday. Carter Blackburn will call the Friday series with Rod Gilmore and Jemele Hill.